AP via SFGate: A Senate committee said Friday it had voted to lift a decade-old ban on the research and development of low-yield nuclear weapons, overriding Democratic arguments that repeal would damage U.S. efforts to stop the spread of nuclear arms.

Low-yield nuclear weapons have warheads of less than five kilotons, or about a third of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in World War II. Combined with precision missiles, low-yield weapons could be used to hit a target without causing as much damage to surrounding areas as other nuclear weapons would.

ed: hat tip DuctapeFatwa